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Diplomacy (Civ6)
Diplomacy is the art of making relations with other civilizations in Civilization VI. Having been overhauled from past games, Diplomacy is a mechanic that evolves as eras pass, starting with periods of near constant warfare in ancient times, to more civil interactions in the mid-to-late game. First Contact Upon first meeting a rival civilization, it may be possible to exchange knowledge of each other's Capitals. When the player's borders are discovered by another civilization, the player is given the option of revealing a nearby city. If the player discovers another civilization's borders, the other civilization may offer to show their nearby city. If two players' units discover each other, they may agree to reveal both civilizations' Capitals. Interactions There are many possible interactions with foreign civilizations - peaceful and ... not that peaceful. Most of the possibilities are locked in the beginning of the game, and become available as you develop your Civic culture. Also, many of these depend on the current relationship status you have with the other civilization. Open the Diplomacy screen to check what options you have available currently. We will describe each one in detail below. Diplomatic Visibility A new addition to Civilization VI, Visibility is the amount of information you are currently able to obtain about the other civilization. For example, at the first level (None) you don't know anything about them, not even their agenda, or what exactly influences your relationship. Visibility may progress through the levels Limited, Open, Secret, and Top Secret. With higher levels of Visibility, you will start receiving frequent updates (maybe even every turn!) on exactly what they are doing, down to building something in one of their cities! When you click on the "Access level" button, you will see in the bottom part of the UI a breakdown of all active factors currently contributing to Visibility. You will also see what kind of info you share on this level, and what you may expect to see in the next level of visibility. Visibility is provided by the following factors, which are cumulative: * Sending a Trade Delegation or Establishing an Embassy. (These two are not cumulative!) * Having a Trade Route with them. * Being Allies or Having a Spy create a Listening Post in one of their cities. Again, these two actions do not stack (Unlike in the real world, you don't spy on your Allies!) * Research Printing technology. This automatically gives you one level of Visibility with all nations! Delegations Players can, for a fee, send delegates to rival civilizations, boosting relations a bit and increasing diplomatic visibility. Note that, once sent, the Delegation remains there permanently. However, it is also possible that the foreign leader may refuse to accept your delegation - this will surely happen if your relationship is worse than Neutral. When you receive Delegations from foreign leaders, you will actually get the 'gifts' they speak about, in the form of a one-time gift of 25 . Embassies Once the Diplomatic Service Civic is developed, Delegations are replaced with Resident Embassies. An Embassy is practically the same thing as a Trade Delegation, just updated to the modern requirements of the diplomatic community (parties, radios, secret rooms) - its effect is to improve relations a bit and give you a level of Visibility. You will have to Establish an Embassy with each leader, regardless of whether you already had a Delegation with them, and the conditions are the same. In other words, if your relationship worsened in the meantime, you may not be able to Establish the Embassy. Note that if any of the two parties Denounces the other, Embassies and Delegations are expelled from the respective Capitals, in a sign of diplomatic reprisal. They will have to be re-established again when relations improve. The same happens if you Declare War on each other. Declaring Friendship When you, or another leader, feels that your relationship is on a solid, good footing, one of you may request to Declare Friendship. Usually this is only possible if you have Friendly relations with the leader. After declaring Friendship, your Relationship Status will change. Note that no Civic research is needed to declare friendships - this is possible from the very start of the game. Trading The most frequent (and maybe the most important) interaction you will have with foreign leaders is trading. You may always trade, except when you are at war with them. The success of the trade, however, and what they are willing to give you for something, depends a lot on your relationship. Generally, the better the relationship, the more chance you have to get a favorable trade, or to get the other leader to agree to an important diplomatic step.To initiate a trade negotiation, click the 'Make Deal' button. You may trade almost anything in the game, including (either lump sums or payments per turn), Strategic and Luxury Resources, Great Works, and even cities! Finally, the different types of diplomatic agreements are found here, since it is a sort of trade to reach an agreement with the other leader. The trading interface is simple and intuitive: there are two columns with items, the left one is your offer, the right one - their offer. You may attempt to select anything from the columns to make it part of the deal. All items will gather in the upper part of the screen, right beneath 'My Offer' and 'Their Offer'. You may combine many items of different types when attempting a deal, with some small exceptions (for example Great Works which were recently acquired cannot be traded, although they will appear in the columns). Whenever the green "Accept Deal" button appears at the top, the other leader is ready to seal the deal! Otherwise, there will be a button 'Make this deal more equitable' - press it and the other leader will make a counter-offer. Alternatively, you may select the items you want from him, without offering anything in return - in this case another small button will appear in the My Offer section, labeled 'What would it take?' Press it to have the other leader offer what items he would trade for what you want. There is also a similar way to offer items, then press a small button which appears under Their Offer - 'What would you give me?'. This will have him choose some items he's ready to offer in return. You may also offer items without demanding anything in return. To do this, simply put the items you're willing to give him, and the green button on the top will turn to "Give Gift" -press it to offer these items for free. If the leader accepts (yes, it is possible that he may not accept if your relationship is very bad!), you will receive a positive relationship modifier. You may cancel the negotiations at any time, pressing the 'Nevermind' button at the top. Relationship Relationships between civilizations are always complex, governed not only by objective factors (such as what you are doing in the game), but also by subjective goals of each foreign leader, called "agendas." The current state of relationship with each civilization will be marked visually by icons on their leader's portrait in the upper right part of the UI. Or, you can always open the Diplomacy screen with them, and click the Our Relationship button for a complete breakdown. Status Levels *'Allies:' When in an Alliance with a leader, you may not declare war on each other, cannot Denounce each other, you automatically share Open Borders, you may make Research Agreements and Defensive Pacts, and deals you make with each other are likely to be very favorable. The Alliance icon (flags) appears on the leader's Portrait. *'Declared Friend:' When you choose to declare your friendship with a leader, you may not declare war on each other, you cannot Denounce each other, you may make Research Agreements, and deals you make with each other will be more favorable. This relationship state is required to make an Alliance. The smiley on the leader's portrait becomes teal. *'Friendly:' This means the leader thinks positively of you, and you have a better chance of getting favorable deals with them. There is a green smiley on the leader's portrait. *'Neutral:' You have done nothing to upset or impress the leader, and your interactions with them will be standard. The leader's portrait has no icons whatsoever. No icon on the leader's portrait. *'Unfriendly:' For some reason, you have done something to upset this leader, and deals with them will likely by unfavorable for you, or you can choose to make demands of them. A yellow sad smiley appears on the leader's portrait. *'Denounced:' This leader has let the other leaders in the world know that you have done something to offend them. Your deals with them will be unfavorable if they will make them at all, but you can declare a Formal War against them and make demands. You cannot have Open Borders with a nation you have denounced and vice versa. The sad smiley on the leader's portrait becomes red. *'At War:' Open hostilities have broken out between you two, and you can attack or invade this leader, but you will accrue warmongering and war weariness penalties. The War icon (crossed swords) appears on the leader's portrait. Improving relationships Here is a list of the factors which improve relationship between countries: * Do a favorable first impression (currently we don't know how exactly this works; also the effect eventually wears off) * Send a delegation or establish an embassy * Offer a favorable trade. Making gifts is also included here. * Establish a Trade Route * Grant Open Borders * Satisfy their agendas * Have the same Government as they * Fulfil a diplomatic promise you made to them. This has to arise from a gameplay situation, where the other leader will ask you something (for example not to settle near their borders). You have to agree, and then spend many turns abstaining from this activity - eventually you will receive a notification that you have fulfilled your promise, and get a diplomatic boost. * Liberate a city. This will grant a positive bonus which seems permanent. * Fight a common enemy. The 'enemy' here is defined as any third party with which the other leader is at odds, This may mean that they've Denounced them, or are currently at war with them. * Be Friends or Allies with a third party he's also Friends with * Declare Friendship. * Make an Alliance with them. What worsens relationships And these will impact relationships negatively: * Do an unfavorable first impression. This depends on your unit that the other civilization first sees. * Go against one of their agendas * Declare War. This negative effect will dissipate eventually, after you make peace. * Occupy one of their cities. Unlike the above, this effect will never dissipate while you continue occupying any city of theirs. * Warmongering. Acquiring a warmonger penalty of any kind will result in this. Note that leaders with the 'Darwinist' agenda will completely ignore Warmongering, and so will leaders with some other specific agendas, such as Gorgo (who quite likes war). * Move persistently military units near their borders. Even though you don't 'break in', this is seen as an aggressive move. * Become Friends or Allies with a third party he's in bad relations with * Have a different Government * Denouncing. You will get a negative reaction both when you Denounce them, and when they Denounce you. * Break a diplomatic promise you made. (-6 relationship) While the relationship effect from breaking a promise is the same as refusing to make a promise, breaking a diplomatic promise gives that player a Casus Belli against you. * Refuse to make a promise. (-6 relationship) Ignoring a promise request also counts as refusal. * Perform an espionage mission against them, and get caught. (-5 relationship) * Convert their Holy City. Diplomatic promises * There is a wide range of promises that other leaders will demand of you; for example: not to settle near their borders, remove military units from their borders, not to convert their cities, not to spy on them, etc. * A diplomatic promise lasts 15 turns, after which it is considered 'fulfilled'. You may then re-engage in the activity which led to the situation when the promise was demanded. * The promise not to move military units near a player is broken even if you violate their border after a war is declared by that player. * You may also demand promises by other leaders. These have the same rules as promises made by you. In case the other leader breaks a promise, you immediately gain a standard Casus Belli against them, which allows you to declare a Formal War. Agendas All AI-controlled rivals are governed by two agendas, which affects how they view other civilizations, and governs their opinions and playstyles. The first one is a set agenda based on their historical traits: for example the pacifist Gandhi has the Peacekeeper agenda, likes leaders that don't go to war and won't go to war easily himself; while Hojo Tokimune has the Bushido agenda, and likes 'a strong soul in a strong body' (basically the combination of strong , and military). The second Agenda of each leader is hidden, and is randomly assigned to further modify their behavior. Unlike the Leader Agenda, Hidden Agendas don't become clear so easily and must be uncovered through gossip or espionage. Demands When you have an unfriendly relationship with a nation, you may demand stuff from them. This may be described as a ruder, more one-sided trade, where you select the items you wish from them without offering anything in return. If you are much stronger than they are militarily, there is a good chance they will grant your request, at the expense of additional worsening of your relationship. You cannot make demands of Declared Friends or Allies. Discuss On the other hand, you may politely request another nation to change their practices towards you after you discover that they are doing something you don't like, such as spying on you or converting your cities to their Religion. After clicking the Discuss button, you may select the request you wish to make, and hope that they will agree to grant it. If they do, you may expect the behavior to cease, and if it doesn't you will gain a special Casus Belli against them! Denouncing When you (or they) are fed up with someone, you may make the extreme diplomatic step of denouncing them. This will immediately worsen relations with the denounced party, and block a number of diplomatic steps you may take (such as asking for Open Borders). Trade Delegations and Embassies from both Capitals are expelled, and you won't be able to offer to renew them until the Denunciation has expired. However, 5 turns later, you will gain the Formal War Casus Belli against them! You cannot denounce Declared Friends or Allies - you will have to wait until these states expire. Use denouncing when you prepare to go to war with someone you have no other Casus Belli against. Otherwise, denouncing brings more harm than good, unless you don't care much about what they think of you, of course. Denouncing also has a duration of 30 turns, after which its effect expires. Diplomatic Agreements There are a number of Agreements that leaders may enter into. All of them have limited duration of 30 turns, after which they have to be renewed. Different types of Agreements become available with Civic research, and will be described below. As mentioned above, sealing Agreements is much like making a trade deal, and will depend a lot on your relationship with the other nation. Joint War This is the first diplomatic agreement that becomes available after developing Foreign Trade Civic. After all, it is most important to secure partners when you go to conquer your neighbors! When a Joint War is proposed you have to select a third party which will be the target of the war (note that you may not find all leaders you've currently met in the list!). If the other nation agrees, both will immediately Declare Formal War against that third party, even if you have no Casus Belli against it. Note, however, that you cannot start other types of Casus Belli wars via this agreement - you'll have to be content with the military help the other nation will provide. Note that you will get no Warmonger penalties with your 'helper' for anything you do in this war; you will get normal penalties with all other leaders, though. You cannot offer Joint Wars to a leader which has Denounced you, or which you have Denounced. Open Borders After developing the Early Empire Civic your nation becomes more careful about who passes their borders, and starts patrolling them regularly, and throwing out invaders. At the same time, your government understands the importance of access to others' territory, and gains the ability to request and grant Open Borders to others. Open Borders allows units to enter the territory of the nation which granted access via this treaty. They may also use the Road network there as if it were their own. Finally, thanks to the free movement, your nation's enjoys a +25% boost. Open Borders may be requested, or granted, as part of a Trade deal. Note that both actions are separate! That means that if you grant someone Open Borders, he or she won't necessarily grant you Open Borders in return. Granting Open Borders without requesting anything in return is a nice way to improve relations. You cannot offer or request Open Borders to a leader which has Denounced you, or which you have Denounced. Alliance The highest form of "friendship" between two nations becomes possible after developing the Civil Service Civic.However, you can only enter an Alliance with a nation you're Declared Friends with. As Allies, you share automatically Open Borders, and you may make Research Agreements and Defensive Pacts. (Note that you will not automatically declare war against a third party without a Defensive Pact!). Additionally, you share visibility with your ally, which means you can see everything their cities and units see. Of course, you cannot take hostile action against an Ally. Research Agreement This deal becomes possible after researching Scientific Theory. After that, two nations who are either Declared Friends or Allies may enter into a Research Agreement and work together towards a particular technology which you both have unlocked, but neither has acquired yet. After a set amount of turns (which depends on their combined output), both players will gain a boost for this tech. However, if any of them discovers the tech beforehand for whatever reason, the other will immediately gain the boost as well, thus terminating the Agreement. Research Agreements are particularly lucrative for a player who lags behind technologically, but has befriended or is Allies with another, more technologically advanced nation. While an existing Research Agreement is in place, you may not start another one with that nation! So, think carefully about which technology you want to get when making the agreement. Defensive Pact In the latest stages of the game, after developing Mobilization, it becomes possible for Allied players to extend their cooperation to the military sphere. After signing a Defensive Pact, both allies will automatically enter war with a third party which Declares war on any of them! This deal is a great way for players who are weaker militarily, but have a powerful ally, to defend themselves. Warfare And, as usual in a Civilization game, war can be declared, guns will start firing, cities will start burning and the innocent will cry for the greed and ambition of their leaders! If they are alive, that is. Warmongering Unlike in vanilla Civilization V, attitudes towards warmongering change through the eras. Warmongering is defined via points, which accumulate with foreign leaders each time you do something warlike. The base points for such actions increase with each passing era: in the , the warmongering penalty is non-existent, and does not become significant until the . After that, warmongering becomes a real diplomatic pain in the butt. Accumulated penalties will slowly decline each turn, until they disappear altogether...unless, of course, you do something to renew them. Note that warmongering penalties don't seem to accumulate equally with all leaders. For example, leaders you haven't met yet will be much more forgiving about your past wars. But Civilization is not a pacifist game, and it is possible for players to wage war without irritating other leaders too much. The way to do this are the revolutionary Casus Belli, causes which justify wars in the eyes of others. For more on them, continue reading. Casus Belli In Civilization VI you may choose to launch the usual war without any warning (now known as Surprise War), surprising your enemy or even backstabbing a peaceful neighbor; and thus enraging the 'international community'. Or you may choose to use a Casus Belli and declare justified wars, which decreases the diplomatic penalties based on how "just" the war is. After the Medieval Era you should use Casus Belli as much as possible, or you risk accumulating huge Warmonger penalties with all players. There are many different Casus Belli, each of which unlocks with Civic development. You should get acquainted with them and use them as much as possible. For better descriptions, refer to the main article above. Category:Game concepts (Civ6)